


Heartbeat

by Fogfire



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 11:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fogfire/pseuds/Fogfire
Summary: Prompt: Hear my Heartbeat? Just focus on that.Readers friend dies during labor, leaving the couple with a child to take in.





	Heartbeat

“Hear my heartbeat? Just focus on that.”

Your face is pressed against Leonard’s chest as you force yourself to breathe in tune with him.

His heartbeat seems to sound through you, the only thing in the world that matters.

Five hours earlier your best friend has gone into childbirth. And you had not been there with her.

Four hours earlier there had been complications. And you had not been there with you.

Two hours earlier your best friend had given birth to a healthy boy. But she had not been conscious, had not been able to meet her son.

One hour earlier the doctors had fought for her life. But they had not won the fight.

“Two to beam up,” Mr. Scott calls from his place behind the glass wall, sending you an encouraging smile when the transporter room vanishes from your sight.

You appear in a transporter room that looks almost perfectly alike. Only Mr. Scott is not there, in his place sits a dark-skinned woman that sends you a comforting smile.

“Welcome to the USS Bradbury. Dr. Hagen is awaiting you in med-bay.”

You’re unable to speak, unable to walk until a warm hand finds a place on the small of your back.

“Come on, darling,” Leonard tells you, before thanking the woman working the transporter.

image  
It takes you fifteen minutes to get to med-bay. You want to turn around and bolt every single one of those fifteen minutes, but you can’t. This is about your friend.

“Did she tell you that she was pregnant?” The elderly CMO asks and you force a nod.

“Of course.”

“I assume you’ve been informed that the father died in an ion storm three weeks after the child was conceived.”

“Yes,” you croak, thankful for Leonard’s arms holding you upright.

“Are you aware that you are the noted as next of kin and therefore the first to be asked to take the newborn?”

“What?” You whisper in shock. Your body moves and just moments later you fall into a chair, your own weight pulling you down until you’re unable to get back up.

Leonard’s the one speaking now.

You look at his lips, trying to read from their movement.

He’s not angry, but he looks like he cares about whatever the answer to his questions will be.

The doctor raises his hands and you still wonder who he is waving too when a nurse appears on your side, handing you a bundle.

The boy looks just like her. Her skin tone, the color of her hair, the curve of her lips are all the things you see at first.

You hold the baby close.

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“What are we going to do?” You ask hours later, you head resting against Leonard’s chest, “They want us to decide..”

“Darling, she was your best friend. You were like sisters. I don’t think you would ever be able not to keep the boy.”

“I’m sorry. You said you did not want another kid.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he tells you, kissing the crown of your head, “I wasn’t planning one, not wishing for one either, but he needs us.”

“I’m scared,” you whisper, unable to tell him how thankful you are. That he is here. That he loves you. That he is who he is.

“Hear my heartbeat? Just focus on that,” he tells you and you do as he asks.

image  
Days later you step into the room that is now the nursery only to find him holding the little boy.

You stop to lean against the doorway, watching him stand there in old sweatpants and a grey shirt that has been washed exactly the right amount of times to be comfortable and unsightly.

“And your last name’s going to be McCoy, which is a good name, I can tell you. As soon as you’re old enough, I’m going to tell you about your grandpa, the man I got my last name from. And look,” he reaches out one hand to pick up the holo picture you’ve placed close to the crib, holding it out for the baby to see, “That’s your mom and your mama. Both in one picture. As soon as you’ve gotten your naptime, I will tell you a few things about those two.”

He carefully lays the boy down, before turning around, freezing for the tiniest moment when he sees you standing there.

“You were watching?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation,” you answer and get on your tiptoes to kiss him.

“Wasn’t a conversation,” he tell you, guiding you out of the room, “He didn’t seem very interested in what I had to say.”

“And what did you say?”

“Hear my heartbeat? Just focus on that.” He whispers in your hair.


End file.
